Bringing home the gold

Tuesday, Feb. 12 — The Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau was honored recently for its marketing efforts to make the Capital City area a destination location for business and entertainment.

“We are really proud and excited to be recognized,” said Tracy Padot, vice president of marketing communications of the GLCVB. “We beat out the larger destinations like Minneapolis and San Diego.”
The North American Travel Journalist Association awarded the GLCVB one gold and two bronze awards for its 2012 marketing efforts in the 21^st annual NATJA Awards. NATJA is a professional association of writers, photographers, editors and tourism professionals dedicated, in part, to promote travel and leisure activities to the public.

The GLCVB won gold for its “Come Together in Greater Lansing” video in the “Destination Video” category. The video, which was produced by West Michigan’s DropDrop Studios, was designed to educate professionals and to inspire them to choose Greater Lansing as their next big meeting place. The GLCVB also won bronze for its 2012 visitors guide and a bronze for its website, lansing.org. Padot noted that the GLCVB won in all three categories it entered.

“Our goal is to attract visitors or all kinds to the Lansing region, whether it’s for sports, a conference or a long weekend getaway,” Padot said. She said that each year, about 4.7 million people visit the Greater Lansing area. The location of the region is important; the Lansing area is a 90-minute or less drive from 90 percent of Michigan’s population.

“MSU sports are a big draw, but more people come to the area for business-oriented events,” Padot said.

NATJA received more than 500 submissions in 58 categories from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The GLCVB won three out of 174 awards possible.